Abstract

TIME TRAJECTORIES FOR THE NEOLITHIC OF CENTRAL ANATOLIA

Laurens THISSEN
Independent researcher, Amsterdam, NL.                                                    

The paper starts out from the assumption that the geomorphological division of Central Anatolia in two main regions, viz. the Konya-Eregli Basin in the West and Cappadocia in the East, finds its reflection in the archaeological evidence of the area. It also acknowledges that the inherent necessity for archaeologists to label cultural stages, periods and sequence-gaps - given in by the nature of archaeological practice itself - in fact masks the natural flow and flexibility of time, where only terms such as 'transition/al' or 'transformation' come near to transgress this paradox. Therefore, the chosen timeframe of the CANeW Table Ronde, the 9th - 6th millennia cal BC, will here be conceived as a trajectory, and itself as part of an even bigger trajectory of time. There must have been a basic continuity of life and histories in Central Anatolia from at least Upper Palaeolithic times onwards. The data available from individual sites can only be understood within this continuum.

The time trajectories for Konya-Eregli and Cappadocia will be proposed to be different and incompatible at first, but convergent later on, where the crucial marker may be set at about 6000 cal BC.

Combining the evidence we now have as based on 14C chronology and the site distribution maps, Cappadocia suggests, after a 1000 year lasting permanence of village life starting as early as 8500 cal BC, a possibly equally long period of non-residual permanence roughly datable between 7500 and 6500 cal BC. Only at about 6000 cal BC, during the Early Chalcolithic, there is resettlement in the area of village sites (Kösk Höyük, Tepecik-Çiftlik), lasting until about 5600/5500 cal BC. A new stage of village abandonment follows, only to be reversed again late in the 6th mill. cal BC (Güvercinkayasi, Kabakulak).

A different trajectory is apparent from the Konya-Eregli Basin. Starting out with Pinarbasi, habitation is continuous as proved by Canhasan III, basal Çatalhöyük East and Suberde. Only Çatalhöyük is long-lasting, but in contrast to Cappadocia (Asikli) earlier, society is suggested to be considered much more dynamic, while the wider Konya region is increasingly involved in relations with the Beysehir-Sugla Lakes region and with Northwest Anatolian hunter-gatherers, transmitting know-how on farming practices and pottery manufacture. At about 6000 cal BC in the Konya-Eregli Basin a reshuffling of settlement is taking place (Canhasan I, Çatalhöyük West), where, as in Cappadocia at this time, more exploitative motifs (salt, obsidian routes, strategic positions) seem to underlie and determine site location and permanence.

This pattern of convergence of Konya and Cappadocia starting at 6000 cal BC is possibly confirmed by a similar abandon of Early Chalcolithic sites in the Konya region, followed by an unstable period without permanent settlement at 5600/5500 cal BC, again followed by the establishment of new, open villages by the end of the 6th mill. cal BC both in the Karaman area and all over the Konya Plain.

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